


Green Plastic Cups

by OnlySlightlyObsessed1



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ice Skating, Jim's POV, M/M, POV Third Person, Pre-Relationship, Recovering from surgery, and even that is a strong descriptor for the absolutely nothing that happens in this fic, don't ask me what kind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2020-02-08 12:42:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18623515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnlySlightlyObsessed1/pseuds/OnlySlightlyObsessed1
Summary: Jim watches Spock wake up from surgery





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> nothing happens in this fic. 
> 
> I wrote this a while ago and decided I should post it mostly as a procrastination technique for all the homework I don't want to do today. How on earth do you title things like this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now with a potential 'what happened after' in chapter two. This first chapter still stands alone.

Jim watched Spock wake up slowly. It was quiet in the private recovery room.

Spock said, “Where am I?” Or at least that’s what Jim assumed he said, he was still woozy and slurring from the anesthesia. 

“We’re in the recovery room, you just got out of surgery.” Jim replied. 

It took Spock a moment, but he said, “Oh,” and closed his eyes again. 

 

“Hello, I’m Doctor McCoy, I believe we’ve met before. How are you feeling now Mister Spock?” The surgeon said as he entered.

Spock did not say anything but he opened his eyes stared at McCoy who was smiling slightly.

“It’s alright, wait a couple minutes then.” He turned his gaze to Jim and handed him a packet of papers. “You’re going to be looking after him?”

“That’s right,” Jim said.

“Overnight?”

Jim nodded, “He’s my roommate, and my friend, of course.”

“Of course. The surgery went well, no problems, no complications to speak of, but he might have a stronger reaction to the anesthesia than most. We’re going to keep him here for another couple hours for observation, but I’m thinking this is going to be an outpatient procedure like we expected. Normally with this kind of surgery we’d let him eat whatever he wants once he gets home, unfortunately, with his hybrid biology I’m thinking he’s going to be feeling pretty badly, nauseous, that kind of thing, so it’s a liquid and soft foods diet for the first twenty four hours, if he’s feeling up to eating much at all. Do make sure he gets something to eat for dinner at least, mashed potatoes are good, easy to digest, easy to eat.”

It wasn’t necessarily new information, but Jim started looking around for something to take notes with.

“Oh this is all written down for you,” McCoy told him, and took the paper folder back and flipped to the second page. “Here’s all the recovery instructions for you, the pain medication schedule,” he flipped to the third page, “here’s the complications he could run into, I doubt you’ll have any trouble, like I said,” and then he took a highlighter from his coat pocket and circled several items on the list. “These are the things I’d say you’ll want to be most on the lookout for, based on how the surgery went and his biological quirks,”

It was funny to hear Spock’s human DNA referred to as a biological quirk, but Jim listened carefully.

“These here at the bottom are so incredibly rare, obviously if you see any signs, don’t ignore them, but don’t get yourself worked up worrying about them.” He flipped back to the first page. “My cell number is right at the top here, call me anytime if there’s a problem or if you have an urgent question, my comm link is below it, if it’s not urgent send me a message and I’ll get back to you. My colleague, Doctor M’Benga, his contact information is here as well, if it’s an emergency and you can’t get a hold of me, he’s also a Vulcan specialist, he’ll help you. The general hospital advice nurse number is here, you can call it, they’ll direct you to whoever’s on call in the xeno department, it’s probably best to just call me or M’Benga, we’ll hear about it anyways, skip the middle man.”

McCoy smiled at him again and flipped through the packet as if to remind himself what he might not have gone over.

“Right, it says here, but just so you’ve heard it from me, no sonics. They’ll rip up all our nice regeneration from where we cut him open, and that’s no fun for anyone. Water showers or baths are fine.” He turned to Spock then, who was still starring at him wide eyed and looking slightly in awe. “When you come back for your follow up, we’ll see if you can go back to using sonics.” To them both he said, “Any questions?”

“Yes,” Jim said, looking at the list of complications, “what level of activity should he be doing, is he bedridden all week?”

“No, he’ll be tired the first couple days, after that don’t tire yourself out,” that part was addressed to Spock, “but there’s no reason he can’t be walking around the house if he feels up to it. Basically, if he’s tired, he needs to rest, so long outings are not ideal, you want to be able to get back home quickly if he needs to. Oh, that’s what’s not written down, pain meds.” He reached behind him to the counter behind the curtain and grabbed a pen. “If the pain meds don’t work, or stop working, which they might,” he said while writing something, “you can try the alternate prescription. Good rule of thumb if he’s in pain an hour after he took a dose, it’s not working. In that case, don’t wait to give him the alternate pain meds, but call me, let me know, doesn’t matter if it’s two in the morning, don’t let him meditate the pain away, as much as he’ll want to, I’m sure, pain interferes with rest and recovery, and suppressing takes energy he could be using to heal.” He handed Jim the paper.

“Well Mister Spock, are you feeling up to talking yet? Any nausea? Pain?”

Spock shook his head.

“Would you like some water to drink then?”

“Yes please,” Spock managed to say, finding his voice halfway through. McCoy smiled at him, he smiled a lot, and Spock might have sighed, with the sedatives still wearing off Jim couldn’t quite tell. McCoy ducked behind the curtain to get Spock some water from the sink.

Jim was about to say something but Spock turned to him looking wonder-struck, and said, in a perfectly clear voice, “He is beautiful,”

He was talking about McCoy, Jim knew, and hidden behind the curtain he heard McCoy make a choked sounding noise like he was trying not to laugh. Jim was similarly unsuccessful in hiding his own amusement. He clenched his jaw and felt himself turning red as McCoy stepped back into their line of sight and handed Spock a green plastic cup. He had to press a hand to his lips and look away, shoulders shaking, as Spock took the cup from McCoy like it was something very precious. McCoy only looked mildly amused, a testament to his professionalism, or maybe because he didn’t know Spock personally.

“Someone will be back to check in on you periodically, hit the call button if you need anything. Hopefully we’ll have you checked out in a couple hours.”

Jim waved goodbye and Spock stared as McCoy left. Jim collapsed into laughter in his chair. Spock was still sipping his water.

“What is so funny?”

Jim couldn’t answer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the kind of hastily written self-indulgent stuff I wouldn't normally post. This is really just one version of what might have happened after, not any kind of resolution. Chapter one still stands alone as far as I'm concerned.

“So how’d your follow up go?” Jim asked, smirking as Spock piled into the back of Nyota’s car holding a folder full of papers and obviously blushing.

“I am allowed to shower with sonics again, the Doctor has determined that the incision site has healed completely,” Spock said. Nyota flipped the turn signal on and pulled away from the curb.

“Did you tell him you think his eyes are mesmerizing?” she asked. Jim could see her grinning in the rearview mirror.

“No, I did not,” Spock said coolly, blushing even harder.

“Was he as pretty as you remember?” Jim asked.

Spock didn’t answer and refused to look at him, preferring to glare out his side window, and Jim bit his lip to keep from laughing.

“I’m going to take that as a yes,” Nyota said.

 

It was a short drive to Scotty’s auto shop, but they spent a good five minutes driving in circles around the block waiting for him to finally be done. He had his duffle over his shoulder when they spotted him on the corner after the seventh circle. Nyota popped the trunk and he tossed in the back with Jim’s stuff before climbing into the passenger seat.

“Good breeze today!” he said, excited.

“Yeah, should be a good afternoon,” Jim replied. Scotty was the only one whose passion for sailing could rival Jim’s.

“Are we heading straight there?”

“Unless anyone needs anything,” Nyota said, and then had to slam on the breaks as a motorbike swerved in front of her.

“I brought the cooler,” Jim said, “and your jacket, Spock.”

“Thank you,” Spock said. His blush had faded.

 

The marina was one of Jim’s favorite places, second only to his boat herself. The _Enterprise_ was a small sailboat, 40 feet, and with a small below decks. She was a cruiser, built for day trips and leisurely outings. There was nothing quite like sailing, and Jim loved it. The marina it self was always an interesting place. Hikaru, who owned the small racing sailboat in the berth next to Enterprise, was around frequently. Jim and Scotty sometimes crewed for him and Pavel. As much as Jim liked racing, he wouldn’t want to trade in _Enterprise_. He loved being able to take her out for the weekend too much.

“You need me to carry that?” Scotty offered, to whom, Jim couldn’t tell, he was buried in his duffle in Nyota’s trunk, trying to find his sunglasses before they walked down to the boat.

“No thank you, the doctor told me today I may resume normal physical activity,” Spock replied.

“The very hot doctor,” Nyota said.

Jim found his glasses and zipped up the duffle.

“What?” Scotty asked.

“Didn’t you see the video?”

Jim shut the trunk and joined them by the sidewalk in time to see Spock’s impressive eye-roll, but at least he seemed to have his blush under control.

Scotty shook his head looking confused. “What video?”

“I’ve got it on my phone, I’ll show you when we get down there.”

“I hardly think I should be held accountable for the things I may or may not have said while under the influence of so many medications,” Spock complained.

 

Scotty and Nyota crowded at Jim’s shoulder while he pulled up the video. It was small and shaky, but for having been taken on his phone it was still relatively good quality.

Spock lay in bed holding the green plastic cup McCoy had given him. He was still staring at it.

 _“Done with the water?”_ Jim heard himself ask.

Spock nodded.

_“I’ll take the cup and you can have a nap then, okay?”_

Spock shook his head. _“I will keep the cup.”_

_“I won’t throw it away in case you want more water, but why don’t you put it down and try to sleep.”_

Jim had honestly been surprised when Spock listened to him, but he did put the cup to the side and lay back against the pillows.

 _“Jim,”_ Spock said,

_“Yes?”_

_“He was very beautiful.”_

The camera began to shake as Jim tried not to start laughing again.

_“You think so?”_

_“Yes. What was his name?”_

_“Uh, Doctor McCoy.”_

_“He is a doctor,”_ Spock sounded in awe.

_“Yeah he’s a surgeon, he just operated on you.”_

_“Medicine is a science and an art. Jim, I’m a scientist.”_

_“Yes you are.”_

_“The Doctor was very nice.”_

_“Yeah?”_

_“He gave me water.”_

_“Is that why he’s nice?”_

_“Yes. And he his eyes are . . “_ Spock trailed off, staring at the ceiling.

 _“Blue?”_ Jim guessed.

 _“Mesmerizing,”_ Spock said. The camera shook again as Jim started laughing, and then cut off.

“Well let’s see a picture of the man then,” Scotty said, when Jim turned to look at him grinning. Nyota, who had gone to help Spock with the cooler, bounced right back over.

“Do you have a picture of him?”

“I don’t,” Jim had to admit, “but google might, hold on.”

They crowded behind him again and he pulled up the hospital’s website, navigating to their xeno department, where, lo and behold, there was McCoy, Leonard, M.D. with corresponding photo, too small really for Jim to judge the relative mesmerizing ability of the man’s eyes.

“Make it bigger,” Nyota ordered him.

“Aye,” Scotty said a second later when Jim had done so. “I can see why you like him, Spock.”

Spock didn’t dignify them with a response.

 

The custody arrangement with Carol said that Jim had visitation rights with David at least once a month, and despite Carol’s complete lack of animosity towards him as a person, she resented the complication of co-parenting. It was honestly a hassle, for both of them, but they both agreed it was in David’s best interest that Jim be a part of his life.

They usually went out on the second Saturday. There was a nice park in between their houses where Jim often took him for a picnic lunch. They’d been late getting out of the house that morning, and had stopped first at Jim’s apartment for lunch and a nap instead of heading directly to the park. So it was late evening before they were ready to leave, although in an unusual turn of events, Jim had David for the night while Carol was traveling for one of her conferences. David was reluctant to leave, so Jim let him stop at each playground before they made their way across the park to the bus stop, where the bus wasn’t due for another half hour anyways. David was enraptured by the water fountain for the moment.

It was one of bubbly ones, rather than an arc, and he laughed when Jim held his hand in it. They were the only ones in the playground section of the park. In one of the large fields there was a rather loud group of older teens. Jim couldn’t understand what they were yelling about, but it looked like some kind of complicated tag game.

“Excuse me,” a girl’s voice said from behind him. Jim turned. “Do you have a phone I could borrow?”

She looked maybe middle or high school age, black or maybe dark brown hair swept up in a pony tail, hands tucked in a pullover sweater. “My phone died and I need to call my dad.”

“Sure,” Jim dropped his bag on the ground and kept one hand on David, perched on the side of the water fountain, while he reached into his pocket for his phone.

“Thanks,” she said softly.

While she dialed, Jim gave David a packet of apple sauce to keep him busy.

“Dad? It’s Jo.” Her dad must have picked up, which was good. Jim didn’t relish the thought of the girl being stuck outside alone as the sun set. “I missed the bus.       I know, I told you, my phone was going to die.                       Can’t you come pick me up?                       I asked someone.            Ok. Yeah. Love you.”

She handed the phone back.

“You have a way home?” Jim asked, just to make sure. “There’s a 14 bus in half an hour.”

“I’ll be okay. My dad’s coming to pick me up,” she said. “The 14 doesn’t go the right way.”

Smart of her, not to say which was the right way was. “Thanks for letting me use your phone,” she said, “Have a good night.”

“Goodnight,” Jim said, and David, mouth full of applesauce, waved goodbye to her. She smiled and waved back, walking away towards the bus stop.

 

She was still there fifteen minutes later when Jim and David finally made it over.

“Hello,” she said.

“Your dad on his way?” Jim asked, as David said, “Hi.”

“Yeah he’s coming,” she said.

“Alright, let me know if you need to use my phone again.”

Two minutes passed in relative silence. David was getting sleepy in Jim’s lap.

“Joanna!”

The girl jumped up and turned around. Jim glanced over his shoulder to see a man, too backlit to make out, walking towards them.

“I though you’d be at the other stop,” he said as he got closer.

“That one goes the wrong way,” she said, hugging him. “I was about to call you again.”

They had stepped into the streetlight and Jim could make out the man’s face.

“I thought your phone died,” Doctor McCoy said.

“It did, I borrowed his.” She gestured at Jim, who waved from the bench.

“Oh, thank you,” McCoy said frowning.

Jim suspected he didn’t recognize him. “It’s no trouble. Are you Doctor McCoy?”

“Yes,” McCoy said, “have we met?”

“You operated on my friend Spock a month or so back.”

McCoy’s face cleared. “I remember, and I recognize you.”

“Jim Kirk,” Jim said.

McCoy walked over to offer his hand to shake, and Jim had to shift David around to keep his hold.

“Your son?” McCoy asked.

“David,” Jim said. “He’s two.”

McCoy’s expression clearly indicated he remembered having a two year old. “Well. Thank you, Mister Kirk, for loaning my daughter your phone. Have a good night.”

“You too.”

 

 

It was Nyota who ‘discovered’ that neither he nor Spock had been ice skating, but it was Janice who lamented their being deprived of some formative childhood experience and insisted they go that Friday. Jim thought she was more than a little bias, given her job teaching children ice skating. The ice rink was warmer than Jim had been expecting, but even so he wasn’t as well dressed as Spock, who had shown up at the mall with no less than three coats, a hat, scarf, and wearing what looked suspiciously like water resistant pants. Of course, Spock wore everything with great dignity, so Jim didn’t comment.

Janice left after re-tying Jim’s skates (his first attempt had apparently left them woefully too loose) to tell Nyota and Spock they’d found an appropriate table, which meant no one he knew was close by to watch him immediately trip over himself and fall as he tried to stand.

“Whoa,” sounded loud in his ear, and someone surprisingly strong was setting him back upright. “Y’okay?”

“Fine, I’m sorry, thanks—” Jim said, looking up to see, “Doctor McCoy.”

McCoy blinked at him.

“Jim Kirk, Spock’s friend,” Jim offered.

McCoy’s expression cleared. “Oh, we do seem to be seeing a lot of each other. You’re here with your son?”

Jim abruptly wished he was, at least he would have some excuse, because looking down he saw McCoy was also wearing skates and seemed perfectly capable of standing, and catching falling strangers, without overbalancing. “Ah, no. A friend of mine found out I’ve never been here before. Actually, neither has Spock, he’s around somewhere, getting his skates, maybe. You’re with your daughter?”

“Yep. Her and her friends, for her birthday. After this I get to pass them off to her mom for the night. I was actually wondering if I could grab the table next you if you’re not using it,” McCoy said.

“Tag teaming it,” Jim said, “good strategy. And by all means, we’re not.”

At that moment Jim caught sight of Spock, conspicuously wearing three times as many layers as any human in the room, scanning the seating area for Jim and Janice. Janice had gone to the bathroom before Jim had tried to stand, and McCoy’s back was blocking Jim from Spock’s view. He leant around McCoy and waved until Spock caught his eye. McCoy turned as well and saw Spock coming.

Spock’s eyebrows were slightly furrowed as he approached and saw the two of them. “Hello Jim, Doctor.”

“It’s nice to see you, Mister Spock.”

“Likewise,” Spock replied, still appearing confused.

“The good doctor was kind enough to stop me from faceplanting into the next bench,” Jim said by way of explanation. “You should wait for Janice to lace your skates.”

“She will undoubtedly want to offer her expert opinion,” Spock remarked.

“She teaches ice skating,” Jim told McCoy.

“Of course,” McCoy said, “Well I’m just going to drop my stuff off here, I guess we’ll see each other.”

“That is likely,” Spock said. There was a moment of silence while McCoy scooted around their table to get to the one behind, and Jim tried to decide if he could safely sit down again without falling over.

 

“DAD!” McCoy turned around from depositing his bags. Joanna, whom Jim recognized, was making her way through the seating area with another girl trailing behind her. “Can you tie Caroline’s laces? I tried, but I can’t make them tight enough.”

“No need to yell,” McCoy frowned as they approached, “put your feet up Caroline, I’ll see if I can fix it.”

Very carefully, Jim managed to sit on the bench again. Spock frowned at him, taking off his own shoes. For McCoy’s sake, if not Spock’s, Jim wasn’t about to start any verbal conversation at that particular moment, but he was absolutely not going to pass up the opportunity to give Spock a hard time. Spock caught sight of his ear-splitting grin and looked away in clear disapproval.

“It’s not the laces, they’re too big for you. Put on your shoes and we’ll go ask for smaller ones,” McCoy said from behind them. A couple of second later, the three of them left, passing Nyota and Janice on their way to the table. Jim pointed, trying to get their attention, but neither of them had met McCoy in person before, and he only managed to confuse them.

“What?” Nyota asked as they arrived.

“Guess who that was?” Jim said. Spock was starting to blush again. Nyota and Janice looked at him blankly. “Spock’s Doctor McCoy!”

Nyota’s face lit up, and it took Janice only a second longer to figure out what he meant. “You’re kidding.”

“He is not,” Spock said.

Janice knelt to fix Spock’s skates. Nyota set her stuff down and set to getting her own on. “That’s a fun coincidence,” she said.

“Did I tell you I saw him at the park last Saturday too?” Jim asked. “He came to pick up his daughter.”

“You did not,” Spock replied.

There was a short silence and Nyota looked up at Jim expectantly.

“What? That’s the whole story. I lent a girl my phone to call her dad, and she happened to be Doctor McCoy’s daughter.”

“Why’s he here today?” Janice asked. “Spock, stand and tell me if they’re tight enough.”

“For his daughter’s birthday,” Jim said, watching as Spock stood, much more carefully than Jim had thought to, and managed to balance just fine.

“I do not have a frame of reference, but I believe they are adequate, thank you,” Spock said.

“Good,” Janice replied, “Let’s go then!”

 

The second try walking on the weird foam surrounding the ice rink went much better than the first, but Jim’s newfound confidence was shattered when they reached the ice itself and suddenly his feet seemed to have no purchase whatsoever. Janice and Nyota were stopped a couple feet from the door, waving him forward with their hands. He clung to the wall, and behind him, Spock did the same.

“You’ll get a feel for it,” Janice promised him.

Halfway around their second lap Jim’s feet finally stopped trying move out from under him, but he could hardly let go of the handrail. Nyota and Janice alternated between helping him and Spock and speeding around the rink at ridiculous speeds, lapping them easily. The young couple in front of him moved off the wall around someone standing in the way. Jim wasn’t sure he trusted himself not to fall if he tried to go so far without a handhold. Spock was no better.

“Sorry,” Jim said, and McCoy, leaning on the wall scrolling on his phone, looked up.

“Oh no, I’m in the one in the way,” McCoy assured him, and made room for them off the wall.

“Thank you,” Spock said.

McCoy watched them for a moment as they continued their slow movement. They were passed at regular intervals by small children also relying heavily on the wall.

“Enjoying it so far?” McCoy asked.

“Indeed so,” Spock said as Jim nodded.

McCoy nodded in return, almost successfully hiding his amusement. Across the rink, Jim caught sight of Nyota and Janice mouthing something he couldn’t quite make out and pointing at them.

“Dad!”

“Mister Leonard,” Joanna and several other young people arrived around McCoy in a cluster.

“Will you take a recording of Lalai doing a lunge for her mom?”

Spock tapped Jim’s shoulder, reminding him to keep moving. Jim did, taking several steps trying to build momentum. Janice had been trying to get him to stop stepping and start pushing and gliding, which seemed like a sure recipe for disaster as far as Jim was concerned. He also wanted to watch whatever it was who-ever-it-was was doing that was worthy of recording. A young Andorian was making her way to a clear spot on the rink, where she carefully pushed forward and then dropped a knee to the ice, arms spread, she glided forward for a moment before standing with good grace.

“Well,” Jim said.

“Quite so,” came Spock’s reply.

 

McCoy caught up with them again at the beginning of their third lap.

“Aren’t you going to try letting go of the wall?”

Jim frowned at him good-naturedly.

“It has proven an unwise strategy,” Spock said. To be fair, they had been using it more for balance rather than as a crutch, but the brief period they had attempted to let go entirely had ended as soon as it began with Jim losing his balance, and when Spock had tried to steady him, they had both gone down hard. Nyota and Janice had had to help them up amid laughing hysterically.

McCoy hummed, amused again. “I saw the fall you two took.”

“Then our motivation for remaining by the wall should be clear.”

An eyebrow went up. “So easily discouraged, are we?”

Jim looked over his shoulder to see Spock raise his own eyebrow. “Hardly, but it would be unfortunate if Jim were to suffer an injury while left unsupervised.”

McCoy’s amused look was turned on him then. Jim wondered if making fun of his first attempt at ice-skating counted as flirting.

Nyota suddenly appeared at his shoulder. “Jim won’t be unsupervised.” Janice appeared next to her.

If Jim hadn’t been too busy clinging to Janice’s hands for dear life as she pulled him from the wall at frankly ridiculous speeds, he would have looked over his shoulder to see what McCoy and Spock were doing. As it was, he was convinced Janice was going to slam into someone skating backwards like that, but she managed to simultaneously look over her shoulder where she was going, and find them time to mouth what looked like ‘HE’S FLIRTING WITH YOU’ at Spock behind them.

“Don’t look so panicked Jim, we’ll go slow,” Nyota said.

“This isn’t slow!”

They ignored him and sped up even more, zipping through the throng of people ahead of them into the relatively clear space, where Janice let go of him and miraculously, he didn’t fall down. He allowed his momentum to carry him over to the wall.

“Look,” Nyota was saying. With something stable to hold on to, Jim could. Spock was holding McCoy’s hand, potentially for stability purposes, but still, as they slowly made their way away from the wall.

“They’re adorable!”

“Think they’ll let me be best man?” Jim asked.

“Well let’s not get hasty,” Nyota said, and pulled his hands off the railing.

 

The combined efforts of Nyota and Janice were sufficient that Jim managed to skate a full lap around the rink, if at a ludicrously slow speed. He caught sight of Spock and McCoy briefly once or twice, but trying not to fall over or trip took most of his attention and none of them noticed when McCoy must have left. Spock drifted over to them slowly and cautiously.

“Jim,” Spock said. “I am afraid I must cancel our plans this coming Tuesday evening, I have a dinner engagement.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I did try to think of a better way to end this, but this is it I'm afraid.)


End file.
